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Horror Nerd

Does "Scream" *work* entirely? No. Is the ending as strong as the beginning? No. But here's why--nonetheless--I love this movie.

1. Kevin Williamson. He was sitting around, flailing. "Teaching Mrs. Tingle" was in "development hell." He began to read about a real-life serial killer--the Gainesville Ripper--and suddenly an idea began to form. He would write the kind of movie he enjoyed in childhood. It would be like "Nightmare on Elm Street" or "Halloween." The script he produced was so strong, it attracted big-league stars, e.g. Barrymore and Cox. That was sort of unprecedented for a slasher flick, in the era of "Scream." (Williamson went on to write "I Know what You Did Last Summer." Regardless of the quality of the movie itself, the title is among the best in film history. So tense and evocative--like a little poem! It points to secrets and lies--pay-dirt for any writer. Williamson of course also went on to invent the pithiest sequel-title in movie history, the concise, campy, wonderful: "I *Still* Know what You Did Last Summer.")

2. The "meta" rabbit holes. Much ink has been spilled. Just a few notes. Gale Weathers--that name!--comments on the action as it is occurring; she over-sensationalizes the already sensational; she feigns pity when she does not feel it; her feigned sentiments are at odds with the words falling from her mouth. (The storyteller crafts and distorts the story. It's as if we're in Thomas Pynchon territory here! Cox can't help but make Gale likable--at least at times--so the push/pull, the attraction/repulsion, between audience and character quickly becomes compelling.) In later installments, a film version of the film world within "Scream" is introduced as a plot complication--so we're watching movies within movies within movies. (We might see an actress portraying Gale Weathers, who of course is an actress in her own "media" job, and who of course is also in the form of the actress Courtney Cox. The mind reels. I wonder if these twists inspired Lena Dunham, in her thinking about the final season of "Girls," and about "Full Dis:closure." I also wonder if "Scream" influenced "The Sopranos"; the show "sends up" itself when Christopher decides to use his real-world mob experience in a slasher movie.)

3. The famous eye for genre conventions. This movie came out when I was first beginning to think about how a story works. I loved that the killer within the movie spoke about killers within other movies; as a way of buying back her own life, Drew Barrymore must answer various film-trivia questions. (Has there ever been a purer expression of movie love committed to paper?) In the movie, the characters talk about how a young buxom woman should not walk alone--and then the Rose McGowan character walks off alone (and gets her head smashed to pumpkin pulp by a fast-moving garage door!) This is a movie that says, "Young women in a horror movie who lose their virginity are fated to die"--and then proceeds to show us our heroine losing her virginity. I love that playfulness. (It makes me think of the SNL skit, "One-Dimensional Female Character"--worth researching if you do not know it.)

4. The subtext. Gay writers and readers are particularly attuned to subtext; if you spend time in the closet, you learn to see codes where others might not see codes. Think of Sondheim, Colm Toibin, Henry James, Peter Cameron, Arthur Laurents, Patricia Highsmith, Todd Haynes, Tennessee Williams--all gay writers/readers fascinated by words that say more than what they seem to say. "I've always depended on the kindness of strangers." "Isn't it rich? Send in the clowns." Subtext is the human condition; we are almost constantly eliding, using misdirection, imparting meaning to silences, whether we intend to or not. An old-school murder mystery is wonderful in this regard: It shows how subtext is the law of the land. By definition, there are lies in a murder mystery. Ten associates gather on Agatha Christie's fictional island: In time-honored fashion, one is secretly a killer. And so the whole plot is a pageant, a masquerade. The same applies to "Scream." A lie is a gripping start for a story, and it makes us think about the complexities inherent in any relationship, including the entanglements within our own lives.

5. Celebrate the counterintuitive. "Ghostface" becomes a celebrity within the world of "Scream"; people begin to dress as the killer, to have parties honoring the killer. So shocking! (And yet is this development far from the real-world fascination people have for O.J. Simpson, the Menendez brothers, Charles Manson?) This is a franchise in which Laurie Metcalf is featured as a murderess. Perpetually Struggling Blue-Collar Mom Icon Laurie Metcalf. (When Metcalf wins her "Lady Bird" Oscar in a few months, she will be the first and only "Ghostface" in possession of an Oscar.) This is a series where the incarcerated thug hasn't actually done anything wrong. (And that name! "Cotton Weary." Who *is* this Kevin Williamson?) Small pleasures, but pleasures nonetheless.

And that's all I have to say about that. Fun weekend viewing--if you're looking for a suggestion!

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